Process of making molded articles from wood pulp



STATES PATENT FFI HENRY P. LANE AND ELIAS FOLK, OF FRANKLIN, OHIOZ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,265, dated April 30, 1895.

Application filed November 30, 1894. Serial No. 530. 7% (N0 specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY P. LANE and ELIAS FOLK, of Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Molded Articles from Wood Pulp, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to finishing the surfaces of articles molded from wood'pulp, the object being to secure a permanently smooth surface on such articles. It has been found in practice that articles molded from wood pulp will have a furred surface extremely difficult'toremoveorsuppress. By ourimproved process we secure an accurate surface of permanent smoothness.

Our process is applicable to most any articles molded from wood pulp and in describing our process we choose, for exemplification, a vehicle dash-board to be made in imitation of patent leather. We therefore describe the mode of making a dash of wood pulp and our improved process of finishing the surface of the same preparatory to the application thereto of the materials to give to the dash the appearance of patent leather.

Take ground wood pulp of the grade ordinarily employed as stock for making newspaper, containing about sixty per cent. of water. If this pulp has been sheeted as is generally the case with wood pulp on the market, the pulp is to be beaten in an engine to get an even consistency. The pulp is then injected into a mold whose cavity corresponds with the desired form of dash, and when the mold is full of pulp a very heavy pressure is brought upon the mold, thus producing the molded dash. The molded dash is then dried by hot or cold evaporation, beingmeanwhile held in a suitable frame to restrain it against improper warping. The dried dash is then treated to a hot bath of raw linseed oil and rosin, say ten gallons of rosin to one barrel of oil, the bath being at a temperature of about 220 Fahrenheit. The treated dash is then baked in an oven at about 200 Fahrenheit. The dash is then treated to a hot bath of boiling linseed oil at about 225 Fahrenheit, and again baked at about 200 Fahrenheit. The dash is then put into another mold conforming to its shrunken dimensions and having smooth mold surfaces, and while therein is subjected to a heavy pressure and to a low heat, or What might be called a high blood heat, say about 100 Fahrenheit, sufficient to soften the materials at the surface of the dash but not sufficiently high to soften the material inward to any great extent. The result is a highly polished surface which will not change and become rough by reason of the cooling of the material ofthe substance of the dash. A dash thus finished is ready for use, or, if desired, it may be treated with japans, &c., to produce an imitation of patent leather.

We claim as our invention- The process of making molded articles of wood pulp, which consists in molding the article, then impregnating the article with oil and rosin, then baking the same, and then subjecting the article after the molding and baking process to heavy pressure between smooth mold surfaces warmed sufficiently to soften the coating but not the material.

HENRY P. LANE. ELIAS FOLK. Witnesses:

J. W. SEE, SAM. D. FITTON, J r. 

